Developing the ISPRM registry of
rehabilitation disaster relief experts
Jan D. Reinhardt, PhD; James E. Gosney, MD;
Andrew J. Haig, MD; & Jian’an Li, MD
Background
• Natural disasters => new disabilities and
existing disabilities
• Physical Rehabilitation required
• However, rehabilitation perspective often
underdeveloped in disaster settings
• Scarcity of existing rehab resources and
professionals make external/international
assistance necessary
Background (continued)
• However:
• How identify deployable experts
– with expertise in disaster rehabilitation
– best suited to the setting in question?
• => Database of rehabilitation professionals
with expertise in disaster relief including
Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine (PRM)
• WHO DAR-ISPRM collaboration plan 20112013
Background (continued)
• “ISPRM will, moreover, compile a database of
international experts for PRM in disaster relief,
which may provide a PRM professional
volunteer team when it is needed in any
region of the world.
• In that ISPRM will closely collaborate with
relevant NGOs, other academic organizations
and WHO offices”. (WHO-DAR/ISPRM 2011)
Objective
• Establish a database of PRM/rehabilitation experts in
natural disaster that can be used to identify
deployable individuals/teams in the case of
international disaster
International
Disaster
UN/WHO
Deployment of rehab
experts/teams
Agency/NGO responsible
for disability & rehab
ISPRM disaster rehab
experts’ database
What is a database?
• More than a survey …
• “A database is an organized collection of data.
The data is typically organized to model relevant
aspects of reality (for example, the availability of
rooms in hotels), in a way that supports
processes requiring this information (for example,
finding a hotel with vacancies).”
See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database
What is a database? - continued
Functions:
• Input (forms like surveys etc.)
• Storing (protected server, backups, etc.)
• Retrieving (search masks, structured requests)
• Managing information (update, modify,
aggregate, etc.)
What is a database? - continued
Database Management System (DBMS), e.g. SQL:
•
•
•
•
Data definition
Update
Retrieval
Administration
ISPRM – Rehab Disaster Experts DB
Data definition:
• Variables
– Needs of end-user …
– Relevant info for monitoring
ISPRM – Rehab Disaster Experts DB
• Variables
– Demographics
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Name (surname, first)
Gender
Date of birth
Country(ies) of citizenship
Country of residence
Religion
Contact information (phone, e-mail, address)
Hospital and/or university affiliation(s)
Current position(s)
Professional rehabilitation organization affiliation
ISPRM – Rehab Disaster Experts DB
• Variables
– Professional qualifications
• Emergency training qualification
• Disaster training qualifications
• Medical/specialty qualifications
–
–
–
–
MD (If yes, years of experience)
PRM residency qualification (if yes, years of experience)
Registration
Licensing
• Upload CVs, diploma etc.
«FMTs will adhere to professional guidelines: all their staff must be registered
to practice in home country and have licence for the work they are assigned
to by the agency» (WHO-FMT Working Group 2013)
ISPRM – Rehab Disaster Experts DB
• Variables
– Disaster relief qualifications
• Disaster experience (up to 10 disasters)
• Disaster 1-10 (multiple entries possible)
–
–
–
–
–
–
Name of country
Type of disaster
Date
Sponsoring organization
Medical role
Traumatic disabling conditions treated:
» fracture
» spinal cord injury (SCI)
» amputation, etc.
ISPRM – Rehab Disaster Experts DB
• Variables
– Deployability
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Clearance by employer
Length of time willing to serve
Native language(s)
English-skills
Other language(s)
Health restrictions
Dietary restrictions (describe)
Other deployment considerations (describe)
Motivation (Describe reason(s) for registering including your
feelings about working with people from different backgrounds)
ISPRM – Rehab Disaster Experts DB
Data definition:
• Relations
ISPRM – Rehab Disaster Experts DB
Update:
• Inserting data: Initial survey of ISPRM membership
• Modifying and deleting data: Repeated Surveys, online selfentry of users …
• Challenges: Reaching the expert population,
correctness/accuracy of information (verification through
institutions?)
ISPRM – Rehab Disaster Experts DB
Retrieval of info:
•
•
•
•
Search mask
Suited to the needs of the end-user
Easy to use
Practical usefulness of eventual output, i.e. list of deployable
experts
ISPRM – Rehab Disaster Experts DB
Administration:
• Registering and monitoring users, enforcing data security,
monitoring performance, maintaining data integrity, dealing with
concurrency control, and recovering information if the system fails.
• Needs ongoing professional programming and monitoring
• Needs secure server (https) involving firewalls etc.
• Needs ethical statement on data protection
• Needs mechanisms for backup
Database & Network
Disaster Relief
Experts
Internet
FirewallProtected
php
End-user
Web-Server
Database Administrator
SwiSCIDatabase
MySQL
ISPRM – Rehab Disaster Experts DB
Administration:
• Potential links to other existing databases, e.g. CRED natural
disaster database, FMT database, ISPRM membership
database …
Related Projects
DART certification
UN disab experts, etc.:
ISCoS,
Other rehab NGOs
ISPRM – Rehab Disaster Experts DB
Budget:
- Infrastructure:
- Webserver
- Database-server
- Firewall, backup system etc.
- Database administrator/manager
- Programming (sql, html, php), definition of database (2
months)
- Development of forms for entry and retrieval (2 months)
- Monitoring (1 day per months)
- Update (1 day per week)
ISPRM – Rehab Disaster Experts DB
Outlook/next steps:
• Think big, start with small steps
• Obtain feedback from responder organizations
on variables
• Initial ISPRM member survey
• Identify institution to host database
• Write up grant proposal
Thank You!